Category: books

What I’ve Read Lately

Okay, so I’ve been slipping lately. I haven’t blogged about books in…weeks. Sad. I know. I’ve been reading, I just haven’t had time to blog! But I’m going on vacation this week for two weeks (Yay for going home!), so I thought I’d do a quick and dirty review of what I’ve read lately.

Patrica Briggs, Silver Borne: I like this series a lot. Great MC, very nice love interest, and the character is always getting in way over her head. What’s not to like about werewolves, shapeshifters, vampires, and the fey all rolled up in one well-written story?

Simone Elkeles, Rules of Attraction: I just discovered Ms Elkeles (courtesy of Kristen Nelson’s blog), and was hooked from the first page of Perfect Chemistry. Rules of Attraction is about the brother of the MC of that book, and I was hooked just as quickly and just as thoroughly this time around. Gritty, realistic writing about teenagers in general, and teenagers involved in gangs in particular. I’ll be checking out her other books as well.

Diana Rowland, Blood of the Demon: I have a somewhat nebulous connection to the author (I know her mother), which is how I discovered her first book (Mark of the Demon). I read the first book straight through in less than two hours, and this one as well. Lots of action, tension, a flawed but likeable MC, not to mention a murder mystery, a hot cop, and a smoking demon. You better believe I’ll be buying anything else Ms Rowland writes.

Rachel Caine, Kiss of Death: I love this series (Morganville Vampires). LOVE. I loved this before I started reading Ms Caine’s other series (Weather Warden, Outcast), which I also love…but not as much as these books. This one didn’t disappoint, either. (Okay, confession time: I got four much-anticipated books in the mail in one package, which made choosing which one I read first QUITE difficult, but this one won, hands down.) Claire’s a great MC, and I love her to death, but I love Shane, Michael, and Eve, too, and they’re always getting in more trouble than I can even imagine.

P.C. and Kristin Cast, Burned: Another series I love. Although the previous book in the series ended in a devastating (for me, anyway) way, and I wanted to fling the book across the room. This book…was more about internal conflict. All of the characters struggled with major issues, but there wasn’t a lot of overt action. Still a good read, though. Can’t wait for the next one. (And, for the record, I think this series and the Morganville series are both WAY better than Twilight. Just sayin’.)

Jenna Black, The Devil’s Playground: I sound like a broken record, but…I liked this book a lot. The series is fantastic. Great premise. An exorcist with an attitude in a world where demons are not only known about, but they can legally possess willing humans? You gotta love the originality of that idea!

Lisa Shearin, Bewitched & Betrayed: Not only does the MC of this series have an awesome name, Raine, she has a great family background—they’re all thieves—and a smart mouth which lands her in trouble frequently. This book…okay, at the risk of sounding juvenile, I’ll just say it…ROCKED! I. Couldn’t. Put. It. DOWN! It was like it was glued to my hand! I was just as frustrated as Raine was with all the crap that kept getting dumped on her head, but I knew she’d figure a way out of it. I just couldn’t imagine how. And…Mychael. I love Mychael. He is one of the best male characters I’ve run across, and I’ve now officially put him on the list of Fictional Guys I Adore with Rhett Butler and Jaime Fraiser. ‘nough said.

Jamie Ford: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet: This book is not my usual fare, being more mainstream and literary than everything else on this list, which is definitely skewed sharply in favor of fantasy. (I can’t help it. I love fantasy.) But this book…was very moving. Touching. Made me laugh. Made me cry. Made me want everything to work out just right so BADLY! If you haven’t read it, you should.

More YA Books!


Okay, so this time I read two books by P.C. Cast: Elphame’s Choice and Brighid’s Quest, which takes us back to Ms. Cast’s mystical world of Partholon.

I read her original Partholon books, the Divine books, several years ago, and loved them. They made me laugh. They made me cry. And they made me want to visit Partholon. (Sexy centaurs? Being able to control your own dreams? I’m SO there!) These two YA books kept the same familiar feel of the Divine books, but added another layer to the world.

From Ms Cast’s website:

ELPHAME’S CHOICE

Worshiped. Set apart. Unable to connect with others.

Though most girls believe they are different, Elphame knows she is. Odd. Strange. Unique. No one in Partholon has her abilities – or her connection to their goddess. And she has a destiny she is about to discover…

A restlessness has infused her, leading her to the other side of her country. There, the remnants of an evil war still linger. Will Elphame be able to redeem both her country and her soul mate, a survivor of that war? The choice she makes now may bring disaster – or a future in which she may never again be alone.

The characters are what I truly love about these books. Elphame was a great character, very easy to relate to, despite her obvious differences. I felt strongly for her, and how she’d always been apart from everyone around her. Then there’s her brother, Cu, who’s a fun-loving rogue, popular with the ladies–until he falls in love. Brenna–the scarred healer who has never allowed herself to be seen. And Brighid, the centaur Huntress who has broken from her family and herd to live her own life.

Both these books are coming-of-age stories, about finding your own path in life and doing what makes YOU happy, no matter what other people think you should do. That’s a hard thing to learn for a lot of young people (and even for those of us not so young anymore), and Ms Cast handles it well, all set against the vivid backdrop of Partholon.

Magic Under Glass

Okay, so I finally managed to read an actual book this week: Magic Under Glass, by Jaclyn Dolamore.


From Ms. Dolamore’s website:

Nimira is a music-hall girl used to dancing for pennies. So when wealthy sorcerer Hollin Parry hires her to sing accompaniment to a mysterious piano-playing automaton, Nimira believes it will be the start of a better life.

In Parry’s world, long-buried secrets are about to stir. Unsettling rumors begin to swirl about ghosts, a madwoman roaming the halls, and Parry’s involvement in a group of corrupt sorcerers for whom the rules of the living and dead are meant to be broken for greater power.

When Nimira discovers the spirit of a dashing fairy gentleman is trapped within the automaton, she is determined to break the curse. But even as the two fall into a love that seems hopeless, breaking the curse becomes a perilous race against time. Because it’s not just the future of these star-crossed lovers that’s at stake, but the fate of the entire magical world.

I was drawn to Nimira from the opening lines of the book–I felt immediately sympathetic for her and her situation, and wanted desperately to see her dreams come true. She comes from a life of privilege, yet she’s forced to dance in a troup that barely earns enough to keep her alive while she dreams of more. And Holln Parry seems like the answer to her prayers.

Then she meets Erris, a fairy prince enchanted in the body of an automaton, and everything changes for her. I loved how expressive Erris was, even trapped in a wooden body, and I immediately fell for him myself, and wanted to help him. The world had a very Victorian, Old England feel, and it was vividly done, down to the details of the society that looked down on the “trouser girls” like Nimira. I will say I was so quickly drawn into the world of this story that I finished the entire book in one day. I loved it, and I can’t wait for the sequel to come out (whenever that is)!

The Shifter

I’ve only read one book this week. Too busy with everything else—real life was a real you-know-what this week—for me to have any time to read anything at all, much less anything for pleasure. However, I did read The Shifter, by Janice Hardy.

From her website: Fifteen-year-old Nya is an orphan struggling for survival in a city crippled by war. She is also a Taker—with her touch, she can heal injuries, pulling pain from another person and storing it inside her own body. But unlike her sister Tali and the other Takers who become Healer’s league apprentices, Nya’s skill is flawed: she can’t push that pain into pynvium, the enchanted metal used to store person to person, a dangerous skill that she must keep hidden from forces occupying her city. If discovered, she’d be used as a human weapon against her own people. Rumors of another war make Nya’s life harder, forcing her to take desperate risks just to find work and food. She pushes her luck too far and exposes her secret to a pain merchant eager to use her shifting ability for his own sinister purpose. At first, Nya refuses, but faced with some difficult choices. As her father used to say, principles are a bargain at any price, but how many will Nya have to sell to get Tali back alive?

From the moment this book opened—with Nya caught red-handed while stealing eggs—I was drawn into the story, completely hooked. The magic system, Healers who can take and transfer pain from injuries, was fresh and new to me, and I immediately sympathized with Nya’s need to keep her true abilities hidden, as well as her urge to protect her sister. Her struggle for survival in her war-riddled home was vividly done, and even the secondary characters felt real. This book was fast-paced and kept me turning pages long after I should have been asleep. Definitely a good read, and I recommend it.

Found: My New Favorite Author

That would be Maggie Stiefvater, by the way. Her two books, Lament and Shiver were part of my recent Amazon binge. And wow, am I glad I binged! (Trust me, that’s probably the only time you’ll ever hear THAT phrase come out of my mouth.) I read these two books this week, and loved, loved, loved them both! They were completely awesome, but if you’re looking for light, frivolous fiction, you won’t find that here. These books are darker, edger, and completely addictive (Sort of like good dark chocolate. Mmmm.)

I read Lament, the first of the Books of Faerie, first.

From Maggie’s website:

Deirdre, a gifted musician, finds herself infatuated with Luke, a mysterious boy who enters her life, at the same time she discovers she’s a Cloverhand—one who can see faeries. Trouble is, Luke is a faerie assassin—and Deirdre is meant to be his next mark.

So, I was completely entranced from the opening scene, when Deirdre is on her way to a musical competition, and she’s so nervous she has to immediately run to the bathroom to throw up (As usual), except that this time, Luke, the boy from her dreams, is there to help her (Not so usual.) Completely, utterly entranced. I loved the characters in this book. Even the minor ones are well-done and vivid, and I found myself actively disliking Deidre’s mom. As for her aunt, well, “dislike” isn’t quite a strong enough word. I read this in less than a day, desperate to find out what happened to Deidre and Luke, and how it was all going to go down. And, hello, evil faeries are pretty dang cool, too! (Although I have to admit, I prefer my faeries a little more…nice, I suppose. Like the Disney version, but not Tinkerbell. More like Legolas in LOTR. Okay, now I’m really digressing. Back on-subject.) Great book. When I finished it, I immediately went through my TBR pile hoping that I’d gotten the second book in the series, Ballad, so I could find out what happened next. Alas, I had not.

However, I had bought Shiver, which turned out to be a completely new take on werewolves–and not one I was sure I was going to like at first. Turns out I did. A lot. This is the first in the Wolves of Mercy Falls books. (The second one, Linger, comes out in July, the third, Forever, comes out in July of 2011.)

From Maggie’s site:

For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf—her wolf—is a chilling presence she can’t seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl.

Grace and Sam are wonderful characters. This book is dark–at least I thought so–full of a sense of futility and inevitability that had me almost in tears a lot of the time. Grace is something of an outsider, obsessed with the wolves, which no one understands. Sam is different than the other wolves. He’s wolf, but he wants so badly to be human and have a human life. The story is told from both their viewpoints, and I have to admit, I’m HORRIBLE at paying attention to chapter headings, so this was occasionally confusing to me as I had to stop and check who I was with a few times. I loved this book. At first, I was a little unsure, but I got so into it and the cold that haunts its pages that it was almost a shock when I finished reading it and went outside into the 70 degree spring weather. If Linger was out now, I’d be happily reading it right this second. Sadly, it isn’t. But as soon as it is…It’s mine.

Chemistry and Angels

Okay, so I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately. A lot of YA reading. And two books have really made a big impression on me in the last week: Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick, and Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles.

Hush, Hush is an urban fantasy about fallen angels and the ancient battle between good and evil, and everything in between. I enjoyed this book a lot. It had a fast pace, and it kept me guessing–although maybe a little bit too much. I read it almost straight through, trying to figure out what was going on, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Nora Grey, the female MC is an interesting character and I really liked getting to see things through her eyes. Puck, the male MC was intriguing and sexy with a nice hint of danger. Good read, and I recommend it.

Perfect Chemistry has one thing in common with Hush, Hush: the female MC gets assigned a new lab partner in science class and the first assignment is to find out everything they can about their new partner.(Kind of weird that I should run across this twice in back-to-back books.) And that’s pretty much where the similarities end. I LOVED this book! I was up ’til 1 a.m. finishing it, desperate to find out what happened! It’s a re-telling of West Side Story, with Brittany Ellis, a blond, upper class cheerleader and Alex Fuentes, a Latino gang member. Brittany wants everyone to believe her life is perfect–perfect grades, perfect family, perfect boyfriend–and appearance is everything to her. Alex just wants to survive and take care of his family. They come from opposite sides of the tracks, and their two groups don’t mix. It just isn’t done. When the two of them interact, the sparks literally fly off the page! I can’t recommend this book highly enough! It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me want to shake some sense into the characters, but it was a great read. I can’t wait for the sequel, which is about Alex’s little brother. It comes out next month.

And that’s all for now.

Faeries and Werecats

So, I’ve actually gotten some reading done this week! Yay!

I had to read Shift, by Rachel Vincent, as soon as I had it in my hot little hands. All of it. That day. Another dose of non-stop action, romantic angst, and cool shapeshifters. I was a little anxious going into this book, considering what happened in the last book, but… Can I say that the thunderbirds are way cool? I’d love to see more of them. The baby thunderbirds made me laugh, bursting into feather at the slightest provocation.

The war between the prides is on the verge of blatant hostilities (a.k.a. all-out battle) when the mythical thunderbirds attack, and all sorts of havoc ensues. Like it’s not bad enough that Faythe is the first female enforcer AND heir to the pride, now she has to worry about who set the thunderbirds to attack her pride, not to mention how she’s going to stop them. And then there’s her other little problem: Marc or Jace? Jace or Marc? (Gee, we should ALL have such problems!) The last and final book in the Shifters series, Alpha, will be out October 1st.

I also read The Iron King, by Julie Kagawa. YA fantasy about the fey? I was all over that! Meghan Chase is a 15-year-old misfit with only one friend, Robbie. On her sixteenth birthday, her younger brother is kidnapped, and she discovers she’s really a half-faery princess and she has to venture into the Nevernever (Great name, isn’t it?), and risk herself and everything she holds dear, to rescue her brother, and the rest of Faery, from a deadly new evil. With the help of Robbie, who turns out to be her guardian, the faery prince Ash, and Grimalkin the cait sithe, she sets off on her journey, into the land of dreams–and nightmares.

This was a pretty good read. I enjoyed it a lot, and I’ll be picking up the next book in the series–The Iron Daughter–just as soon as it comes out.

A Game of Thrones

I finally finished reading A Game of Thrones, by George R. R. Martin. If I had to sum it up in one word, that word would be “Wow.” It took me several weeks to read it. Not because it’s a BFF (big, fat, fantasy), which I love. And not because I didn’t enjoy it, either. No, it took me so long to read because I just didn’t have time to read! So far, that’s the only book I’ve read this month. Shocking, I know, but I’m hoping to remedy it soon.

This book has been on my TBR pile for a while (a LONG while, sadly), and I just hadn’t had time. But when Holly Lisle assigned it in the HTRYN class, I knew I had to make time. I’m glad I did. I’ve seen this book mentioned in several places as an example of how to do wonderful things with characters. I’ll be honest. I was so into the book, I’m not sure I retained anything of a How-To nature. Several nights, I was up WAY too late saying “Okay, one more chapter. One more chapter. One more…”

Some of the characters I loved(Bran, Arya, Jon, Tyrion, Dany, Khal), some of them I hated (the queen, Joffrey, Viserys, Petyr). I wanted to shake Sansa frequently. But I’m pretty sure every character drew SOME sort of respone from me, and most of them were strong responses. So, yeah, wow. If you haven’t read this, you should. Even if you don’t like BFFs.

Committed (No, I’m Not Talking About Me)

I finally got to read a book I’ve been waiting for for at least a couple of years: Committed, by Elizabeth Gilbert. It’s the follow-up to Eat, Pray, Love; which, if you haven’t read it, you SHOULD. It’s how she got through a horrible divorce and discovered just what matters to her in life while she healed from the experience. I loved that book. A lot. Read it twice in the same year, actually. It just made me feel so much better about certain things going on in my life. Ms. Gilbert put into words exactly how I felt at a couple of times, and sort of validated the whole experience for me. (And also, I was a little jealous of her packing up and traveling for a whole year. I’ve always longed to do that, but have been too chicken to actually consider it.)

So, anyway, Committed is the follow-up. It… wasn’t the same as Eat, Pray, Love, which was what I was hoping for. This time, Ms. Gilbert explores the history of marriage and different marriage customs around the world as she tries to come to terms with marriage after her bad first experience, in preparation for her… rather unplanned… second venture into wedded bliss.

However, it did make for some interesting reading. I enjoyed it, actually, and it’s probably something I needed to read, to maybe help me over some of my own skepticism concerning marriage (My divorce was nowhere near as bad as hers, but I still have issues, okay?). A worthwhile book, as long as you don’t go into it expecting it to be a repeat of Eat, Pray, Love.

Soul Screamers


Okay, so about a year and a half ago, at the Conestoga writers’ conference, I sat in on a panel with Rachel Vincent and her agent, Miriam Kriss. Rachel mentioned she was writing a book about a girl who finds out she’s a banshee. I thought Wow. What a cool idea. I HAVE to read that. So, when the first one, My Soul To Take, came out, I was all over it. Now, I love the Shifters books. A LOT. (Although I was not so happy with a couple of things that happened in the last one. I do have faith though, and am eagerly awaiting the next one in March.) I think Ms. Vincent is a talented writer, and she tells a dang good story, so her YA story about banshees was kind of a must-read for me.

If you haven’t read My Soul to Take, you should. Seriously. Teenager Kaylee thinks she’s going crazy when she starts having an uncontrollable urge to scream, and people drop dead around her. The second book, My Soul to Save, has Kaylee trying to figure out why teenage pop stars die in front of her, and she has no desire to wail. This means the dead girls don’t have a soul, and of course, Kaylee is determined to find out why these girls are trading their souls, which involves sneaking around and trips to the dangerous Netherworld.

There’s a lot of the typical teen angst in the books (Apparently, banshees aren’t exempt from this.), overbearing parents, and school drama. But Ms. Vincent captures these things so well you really feel like you’re the one going through it all. Since a lot of my writing is YA, I’m truly amazed by this (and hopeful that one day I might manage to capture some small part of it in my own work). If you like fast-paced YA books set in a truly original world (Or, in this case, the DFW area, which made me a tiny bit homesick.), you should definitely read both of these books.